Accidental Acquaintances
by kcgal
Summary: After Rogue leaves the school, St John receives a letter and things move on from there. [[**Chapter 4 added**]]
1. The first letter

Letters

Disclaimer: Marvel, no money, etc, etc fill in the blank. ;)  
Title: Accidental Acquaintances  
Rating: PG-13 (not really sure on how the ratings work exactly, but there's swearing)  
Chapter: 1/?  
Pairing: Rogue/St John, Jean/Logan and maybe some others  
Summary: After Rogue leaves the school, St John receives a letter and things move on from there.  
Author's note: I don't know why I wrote this really. I was watching the movie for the 100th or so time, and I guess I wanted to do somethingon a character which wasn't really written about. Infact, I don't think I've read anythign with St. John as one of the main characters which was set in the movieverse. Anyhow, I hope you like. heh. Review=very nice person *hint hint*  


St John was sprawled out on the couch in the rec room with Kitty, Jubilee and Bobby when Mr Summers found him. They were watching a sappy soap which the girls seemed engrossed in and the boys reluctantly watched because there was nothing else to do and they couldn't manage to wrestle the remote away from Jubes.   
"St John – there you are." The boy looked up worriedly at his teacher, thinking he was in trouble once again for one of his many pranks around the school. Swallowing, he sat up. "You've got mail." The older man said, tossing him a white envelope. St John looked from Mr Summers to the letter in astonishment. A letter? Hardly anyone got letters around the school, and he couldn't for the life of him think of anyone who'd write to him of all people.   
"Ooooh who's you're pen-pal Johnny?" Jubes said, nudging him and trying to grab the letter from where it landed in his lap. He quickly snatched it up before she could take it and examined it himself. Ordinary looking white envelope with scrawling writing on the front, in black ballpoint. It was indeed addressed to him, as the top line dictated - _St John Allerdyce_, with the school's address printed below it. Flipping the envelope over, and pulling his hand over to his far left before Bobby could grab it, he could see a return address on the back, in blue ink, and in a different handwriting. He could place neither of the two handwritings, although he sucked at that kind of thing anyway.   
"Aww, C'mon! Spill the beans boy-o what haven't you been telling us? And why didn't I get a look in?" Bobby prodded, grinning at his best friend. St John grinned back, but puzzled in his brain who would write to him – from New York City, as the return address pointed out.  
"Believe me Bobby, if I had any action, I wouldn't share it with you!" he said teasingly, meanwhile trying to get himself out of the tangle of limbs the four of them had made.   
"Hey, where ya goin?" Kitty asked. He waved the letter in his hand.  
"To read my letter dumbass."   
"Oooh private stuff eh?" She teased, and Bobby started to laugh maniacally. Looking down, St John made sure to accidentally knee him as he left the couch. Finally untangled and off the couch, he waved sarcastically at the trio and made his way to the room he shared with Bobby. Sitting down on his bed, he studied the envelope once again before picking up a nearby pen and using it to rip a slit in the top of it. Extracting the paper within, he unfolded it and began to read.

> > __
>> 
>> Hey there St John. How are things hanging with you? I don't even really know why I had the sudden urge to write this to you, seeing that I don't even really know you that well. In my head you're always under the heading of "Bobby's Friend" or "Fire-Boy", not "Best-Friend, Person-to-write-to-after-disappearing-for-a-month." But oh well, que sera sera, eh?   
So here I am. All set up in a dandy little flat (ok, so it's shitty as hell, but ya gotta live somewhere, right?) with the most annoying room-mate from hell who has the worse case of bad fashion sense I've ever seen. Her name's Miranda for gods sake. Though she's always wanting me to call her Fleur or some equally moronic name half the time. She goes through all these phases see, and decides she's a hippy for a week, or a goth or something else. [insert me shaking my head sadly here] But she pulls in half the rent, and that's good enough for me. I've got a job and everything – actually, I've got two. I work as a waitress on afternoons and bartend at night. Both seedy joints, but they pay ok, and there are less sleaze-balls then you'd expect really. Well, then I would anyway. Not to sure how many you'd think there'd be. Most likely you'd never thought about it if you have, you should probably worry a bit. Too much boredom there hon. Then again, you get a lot of that in a certain visored fearless-leader's maths class. Joy.  
Can't say I'm missing school and classes and learning all that much, though I do miss all you guys and having people to just fool around with. Miranda doesn't exactly fill that position with me, surprisingly. (that was sarcastic if you couldn't tell. Letters are funny like that, you can't express much from them) I'm not exactly lonely, but I do feel isolated. I suppose I'll get that where ever I go though mutant among mutants and all that. It isn't a bad life, what I'm living right now. I can think of better, (staring a beautifully decked out gleaming mansion with millions of servants and a big pool) but obviously this is the best I'm going to get for the moment.   
Hmm. That's all I can really think about to ramble on for the moment. Thanks for listening, heh. Or reading. Take care St John.
>> 
>> ~Rogue. 

He sat there for a while after reading it, just staring thoughtfully at the page. Then he re-read it. It had been a month or so since Rogue took off, without a word to anyone besides the Professor. Disappeared overnight when Logan had finally gotten it together with Dr Gray. Looking at the letter again, he got up and sat down at his desk. After a few minutes spent clearing a spare area amongst the junk, looking for a clean sheet of paper and a working pen, he began to write.

> > __
>> 
>> Hi Rogue. Wow. I don't think I've ever written a letter before. Hell, I don't think I've ever even gotten a letter before. So don't blame me if this is shitty as. Well, It's nice knowing you're alive and doin' OK, weird room mates aside. I'm alright in the general way of things, bored out of my brain, but that's expected. Nothing really interesting's happened since you left. A lota people here were worried when you took off. Wolverine in particular. He spent a whole week storming around growling at everyone and demanding the Professor tell him where you'd got to. Everyone kept even more outa his way then normal still do really. He's still royally pissed off – he was even talkin of going out to look for you, but someone managed to talk him out of it. We're guessing that he's sorta the reason why you left, so you wouldn't want him stalking around lookin' for ya right at this point.   
Bobby, Jubes and Kit were worried too ya know they all wonder about where you are a lot and like you said, I dunno why I'm the one that got the letter out of all of us. You ever going to come back here? It's not such a bad place, y'know, certain visored fearless leader's maths lessons aside. Geometry at the moment – total fun. [rolling eyes]   
Well, like I said, I'm new to this whole writing letters gig, so I think short is the best way to go. 
>> 
>> St John 

Looking over what he'd written, he nodded to himself. Folding up the sheet of paper in half, he tucked Rogue's letter into his jeans pocket and headed out in search of an envelope. After wheedling one out of Mr Summers, he sealed the letter into it and stuck it too into his pocket for his next visit into town – which turned out to be the following day. With a little help from the woman at the post office, he got stamps and sent off the letter. On an impulse, he also got a packet of envelopes. 


	2. The second letter

Letters 2

Disclaimer: Marvel, no money, etc, etc fill in the blank. ;)  
Title: Accidental Acquaintances  
Rating: PG-13 (not really sure on how the ratings work exactly, but there's swearing)  
Chapter: 2/?  
Pairing: Rogue/St John, Jean/Logan and maybe some others  
Summary: After Rogue leaves the school, St John receives a letter and things move on from there.  
Author's note: I don't know why I wrote this really. I was watching the movie for the 100th or so time, and I guess I wanted to do somethingon a character which wasn't really written about. Infact, I don't think I've read anythign with St. John as one of the main characters which was set in the movieverse. Anyhow, I hope you like. heh. Review=very nice person *hint hint*   
Also, I'm kinda figuring this series may actually turn out to be pretty long. I've got some really cool ideas to put in, introducing a lot of the comic characters and stuff. Anyway, we'll see. Thankx to all who review!

A few days later another letter came. 

> > __
>> 
>> Dear St John,
>> 
>> Holy crap Ok, first off, if you haven't told anyone about me writing to you, please, please, please don't! Especially not Logan (you figured right about wanting him stalking me). Miranda made a massive fucking cock-up, but it's one I don't really mind for once. It was really good to hear from you, from someone who gave a shit. Thanks for writing back, the letter wasn't shitty. Heh. I should probably explain the cock-up to ya, right? Well, y'see, I never ment for that letter to be posted. Recently, I've written a few of them. Different ones to different people – Bobby, Kitty, Jubes, Logan, the Proffessor and even Ororo. Yours was one of the first ones. I'd write them, and then put them away like a diary of sorts. It helped me in some warped way. Anyway, Miranda musta found your one while being nosey in my stuff, and she said that she thought I'd want it posted, and took it with her when she went to the post office to send a letter to her folks in LA. She's the one that wrote the return addy on the back (she's like this financial pen-pal writer and now keeps on trying to give me tips on how to write a good and proper letter, like putting a return address on the back and how many inches to write the address on the front from the edge of the envelope. Like I said, she's a crackpot!). Anyway, after near-strangling her, I got your letter back. So yeah, that's basically why you got a letter from me.  
And like I said, pretty please don't tell anyone where I am, or that you've even heard from me. Nobody else knows where I am, and for the moment, I'd like to keep it that way. I just don't feel up to the whole oh poor Rogue', or the constant are you sure you are/going to be ok?'. Friends can be really annoying sometimes, and all the other students are even worse, looking at me like I'm this strange freak for being so dramatic about a guy who's like, double my age. Not that I could give a flying fuck about what they think, but it still got on my nerves. The one I feel sorry for is Mr Summers. It's gotta be tough, having to be the leader and the role model, having to keep going even after something like this. He can't even get away from it like I have. I'm just taking some time to deal. Once I pull myself together and manage to stop my sulking and end my personal pity-party, I will come back. No, Xavier's isn't such a bad place. Actually, I think it's pretty damn good, and the Prof is really great. He was heaps nice when I told him I was leaving, and he promised not to look me up on Cerebro – or at least not to tell anyone else where I was.   
As for Logan, huh. It's funny how stupid he can get sometimes. I've been hanging him around like some sort of demented puppy for months, and he doesn't notice, and then the minute I leave without his personal consent he goes round ripping people's heads off. If he ever does it to you, tell him to shove it – I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself thanks very much. Don't let him intimidate you he can be a bastard, but it's mainly bark. Just make sure you don't try to wake him up from one of his dreams. Heh. You could get a lung full of adamantium if ya try that one.   
Well, I'm bouncing merrily along here in my NY-City life. Met the grossest sleaze-ball at the bar last night. [shudder, yak, groan] First off, totally disgusto – greasy as a fast food joint, missing half his brown, rotten teeth, this freaking horrible earring and the worst wanna-be biker clothes. It was really funny – he got totally smashed and started trying to sing Whitney's "I Will Always Love You" at the top of his voice and then got his head pummeled with barnuts.   
How's everyone doing back there? You and Bobby pull off any good practical jokes yet? I've gotta go to work now, so I'll sign off here. Like I said, it was great hearing from you. Keep well,
>> 
>> ~Rogue 

"You got another love letter Johnny?" Bobby teased as he sighted his friend reading another of the mysterious letters. "You gunna tell me who they're from already? Or are you sending them to yourself? You know you're ment to do that with flowers. And only if you're a girl." St John threw a pillow at him, which he managed to dodge, and a full out pillow fight ensued. One mug and a whole lot of feathers later, the two had collapsed on their respective beds. "Seriously though St John – ya gunna tell me or what? I mean, we're ment to be best friends and all." Bobby said between panting. St John shrugged. He hadn't as yet told them about Rogue, some little voice in the back of his head had warned him not to. Now, that little voice turning out to be right, he'd been asked not to. But Bobby was his best friend – the kind of no-secrets' friend.  
"Sorry man. Under lock and key, y'know. You'll find out someday, I promise." He finally replied. Bobby mock pouted at him, but he didn't seem to mind too much.   
After dinner, when most of the kids were in the rec room watching a movie, St John once again sat down to reply to Rogue, his newly acquired pack of envelops on the stand-by. 

> > _Rogue,_
>> 
>> Sure, don't worry about it. I'll keep my mouth closed on this one. I hope you can finish up your so called pity-party' soon though – people around here miss you a lot. As for the whole letter mix-up thing, shit happens, you know? Don't worry about it. It's kinda nice to write to you. And I promise I won't do the annoying friend bit (well, at least I'll try not to). You've got a right to feel whatever ya like (and it's not like you could choose how you feel anyway), and the guy saved your life twice – if there wasn't something, I'd think **that **would be weird. Like you said, ya shouldn't worry about what they think. They don't know you, don't know what you went through. Shit, I'm starting to sound like a fucking agony aunt giving out advice. I'm sure you know all this crap anyway.  
As for Mr Summers, he seems to be doing all right. I think he's trying to cope with it in his own way. But then again, that man is too tight to know what really goes on under those glasses. You're right about Wolverine though – he's a strange guy. I don't think anyone gets him at all – not even the Professor. Believe me, if I ever get the courage to talk to him when he's in one of his funks without peeing my pants, I'll tell him that. Don't think it'll happen soon (that man holds the fear of god) but I'll keep it in mind for the future. [laugh]  
Everyone around here is fine. We got a new guy the other day – so Bobby and I have been welcoming' him with our usual stuff. He's cool though I've got a feeling he'll settle into our little group pretty quick. His name's Kurt Wagner. He's German, if ya can't tell from the name, and he has an accent and all. He looks, as Kitty puts it, like a fuzzy blue elf' (ya think there's something going on there? Hmm?) and he has this kick-ass tale which he can swing about on. His power is teleportation (which has distinct possibilities for some **really **good pranks) – he just wills himself somewhere, and there's this noise, kinda like –BAMPH- and a puff of smoke and he's gone. Damn cool. He's already set his sights on being an X-man once he graduates, and even thought up his own codename – Nightcrawler. That got everyone going, and Bobby has declared he's gunna be Iceman, and Kitty wants to be Shadowcat. Me, I'm not really sure – not got much in the way of creative genius, and I think Jubilee likes her nickname.   
Hey, next time some guy gets up to do a be-autiful rendition, try and tape it for me, will ya? Sounds like some good entertainment. [laughs head off] Surprising how many morons litter this earth. Heh. Well, I can't think of much more to say really. I think I'm kinda getting the hang of this whole letter thing. Maybe you can get Miranda to give me some tips. [snigger]. Well, hope ta here from you soon,
>> 
>> St John 

He folded the paper over and stuffed inside an envelope. After writing out the address on the front, he put it into his pocket, and took Rogue's letter. Grinning to himself, he hauled his mattress up and pushed the letter under to where the older one was hidden. Once he'd rearranged the bed to a somewhat seemly state, he went out to join the rest of the kids to watch the remainder of the movie. 


	3. The package

Letters 3

Author's note: Sorry this took a while... I got a bit of a block on how to get this one going. I'm working on more parts - I've got a definate outline for quite a few chapters, but they might take a while. I've got to do some comic-character research, and I'm going back to school soon. (nnnooooo!) Thankx again to those who reviewed. I'm sorry to the person who thought there was too much swearing - that's just how I kinda imagined both of them. I don't think there's very much in this one, but there will be later on. Like I said, that's just what happened when I started writing. :)

It was a week, and two letters later when it arrived. "St John! There's a package for you." Ororo Monroe called through the dining room. Bobby elbowed him in his ribs from where he sat beside St John at the table.  
"Relationship moving up is it Johnny-my-boy?" He teased with a grin. St John rolled his eyes and thwocked him on the head as he got up to collect the package'. Storm smiled benevolently at him as she handed over the package. Everyone at the school, including the teachers, were curious about St John's so called pen-pal', and rumors were concocted on a daily basis. St John had stoically kept his mouth shut about whom they were from and what was in them. He found he actually enjoyed talking to Rogue through the letters, being able to say things to her that he didn't really feel comfortable talking about to others. Taking the package, he thanked Storm and hurried back to his seat. He really wished that she hadn't announced it right in front of every other kid in the school. There would defiantly be more gossip then usual. St John grinned at the thought. It was kinda funny, to hear the ridiculous things that bored kids who watched to many soap-operas came up with. Giving Bobby another light nock on the head for the comment he could practically **see** coming out his friend's mouth, he sat down again and resumed eating – dropping the package onto the table beside him. After a moment or two he stopped, looking up at his friend, who was sitting there, watching him.  
"What?!"   
"What d'ya mean, what?' – aren't you going to open it?" Bobby prodded, nodding down towards the package. St John grinned, thinking about teasing him, but he was kind curious to what Rogue had sent him himself. Shrugging, he picked it up off the table and scrutinized it. It was one of those small padded bags that you could find at the Post Office, around the size of one of the large manila envelops you could also buy there. He could feel a small, hard rectangular box-like shape inside. Looking around the table, he noticed a few other people, looking on with interest. Shaking his head at how gossip-starved his peers were, he went on to rip the top part open, using the knife from his plate when the plastic bubble wrap inside became stubborn. Peering inside, he saw a slip of paper and a plastic rectangular box inside. After a moment, he realized that the box was a cassette tape case. Realizing that his audience was growing, he folded the top back to close the bag. "So? What is it?" Bobby asked. Shrugging, he went back to eating, trying to decide what to tell his friend.  
"A tape." He finally said. "Can I borrow you're walkman later Bobby?" A wide smirk plastered on his face, Bobby nodded.   
Some time later, after classes had finished and St John had managed to get a hold of Bobby's walkman, he set out to find a quiet spot so he could listen to his tape. He lay down on a nice piece of grass, and opened the package once again, dropping out the paper and the tape.

_St John – hope you can find a tape-player about the place somewhere. ~Rogue_

Read the piece of paper. His brow furrowing, he pulled the cassette out of it's case and stuck it into the walkman, making sure it was rewound, then pressing play'.

> > __
>> 
>> Hi St John! [sound of giggling] Ah hope this is working ahlright. Well, Ah thought Ah'd try fo' something a little different. Ah was watching a re-run o' that show Felicity on TV, yah see, and it gave meh an ideah. In case yah haven't seen tha show, Felicity sends her friend a tape with her talkin' on it, kindah like a lettah. Anyhow, Ah thought of what yah said about tapin' tha moron's down at the bar, and Ah thought this might be a nice tah try. Oh yeah, when yah done listen' tah meh, turn tha tape ovah and there's some thangs yah might find funny on tha otha side.   
Ah found this cool little dictator tape-thing at a jumble sale, and Ah bought some tapes, so now Ah'm set. So expect tah get some more o' these in tha future. Ah'm sitting on mah bed now– it's about 8 o'clock at night, and Mirrandah is tryin', and tryin' being the operative word here sugah, to bake somethin' in tha kitchen. So if yah hear screamin' or some loud crashes, that'll be her. [sound of a muffled curse, then Rogue laughing] See? Speak of tha devil  
So yeah. Hmmm. Ah don't really know what tah say now Ah'm sitting here. Tha thing with letters is that Ah can take time to sit down an' think about what tah write. Well, Ah hope ya'll doin' ahlright ovah there at the school, and yah didn't get intah toooo much trouble because o' that prank yah pulled on Lilah. [sniggering] But gawd, that was funny. Ah couldn't breath properly fo' laughin' when ah read about it.   
[few seconds pause] Ah met some mutants tha otha day. Bout our age, mahby a bit older. They're passable as normal humans though. Ah talked tah them a bit, and they told meh that most o' tha ones that don't, look human that is, stay outa sight. Even then, there's a lot of em that go missin' – the ones that don't have any family or anyone tah miss them. Jus' disappear, sometimes comin' up a while latah, dead in tha gutter somewhere. There's a group of anti-mutant protestors in tha city, callin themselves Friends of Humanity'. They're gatherin' quite a followin' so many people seem tah be against mutants. Some o' them even think we should all be rounded up and mass executed. Ah dunno if yah watched the news recently, but there was this big protest tha otha day, about mutants. It got outa hand, and five or six mutants were killed. It was horrible. Ah could see it from the window, and Ah almost threw up. Ah can't believe people could just do that tah others just like them just cuz we're a little bit different. They're tryin' tah blame us fo' everythin' that's wrong in tha world. Ah keep thinkin' of Hitler, and tha way he used the Jews. It's just tha same. Whoevah said history repeats was damn right. [sound of a heavy sigh] Damn. Now Ah've got mahself all depressed, probably yah as well. Sorry bout that  
On a lighter side, the mutant kids Ah met are all really nice. One gal in particular, calls herself Shana - but Ah'd bet that's nowt her real name, Ah think Ah could become good friends with. She's takin' meh out tomorrah night. Finally! A social life! [giggling] Have tah find a nice pair o' gloves. Ah've got this whole collection goin' now – all different colors an' fabrics. People think Ah'm just weird, wearin' all these long gloves, but they put it down to a personal style. It's OK, cuz it's winter and cold, but Ah dunno how it's gunna look come summer. Hopefully Ah'll be able to come back to Xaviers before then. Ah'm really startin' tah miss everyone back there now. [sounds of screeching and loud clattering in the background]   
Cer-ripes. What in tarnation has she done now? Ah better go check, make sure she aint set tah burn tha building down! Nice talkin to ya sugah. Don't forget tah listen tah tha otha side now. Take care.

There was a crackle and then a click, followed by the silent hum of empty tape. St John lay on the grass, staring up at the sky, for a while, just letting the tape continue onwards while he thought. After several minutes quiet contemplation, he picked up the walkman from beside him and found the rewind button. Pressing it, he let it whir until the click came, and then he pressed play again, lying himself out on the ground again, ignoring the slight chill on the evening air as he listened to Rogue's southern drawl. __

Hi St John! Ah hope this is working ahlright


	4. Futhering the Acquaintance - Prt 1

Letters 4

Author's note: Yikes! Ok, this is wayyyy overdue, but between exams, america under attack and ff.net being down a bit, I havent' done much. :P I'm sorry this is so short... I was originally going to wait until I'd finished the visit and everything, but I thought I should post SOMETHING. No letters in this one... nor in the next one. :) More dialogue. I suck at dialogue! hehe. Anyway, hope you like! 

Warning: exessive use of eye rolling in this (short) chapter! It just kinda came out that way...

The letters continued to come, once or twice a week. Every so often there was a tape, one side filled with funny conversations, bits of songs and other miscellaneous things on it, the other containing her spoken letter to him. He never sent a tape back, as too hard for him to find something to record it with, and the privacy to do it in. At some point, after being dragged out to town along with Bobby and Kurt by the two girls, he found a carved wooden box, which he had bought with the idea of keeping the letters and tapes in. After a few modifications (namely, a lock), it was perfect, and it now sat on his desk – the center of some curiosity on his four friends' parts. The collection had spread from letters and tapes, and the little box now housed a number of miscellaneous trinkets and a few photo's. Over time, neither of them noticed their easy transition into a special type of friendship. Neither found it odd when Rogue began calling him sugah' or he calling her babe'. Their letters got longer, and the topics they talked about grew wider in diversity. He kept her up to date with the goings on at Xavier's Institute, while she described her city life in such detail that St John felt like he knew all the people and places she talked about. He'd taken to writing the letters in any spare moments he had, even when he was bored in class. Sometimes his letters would be sent off on several pieces of scrap paper, or even on sheets torn from his notebook.   
Having just finished one letter, St John had gone to post it, and was presently trying to sneak back into the school. Being a school night, he wasn't ment to have been out of the grounds, but that had never stopped either him or Bobby before. Entering through the kitchen, he was making his way back up to his room when he bumped into Kitty.  
"St John! Where've you been? The Professor just called a meeting he sent us out to look for you." She said, while grabbing his arm and beginning to drag him back downstairs.  
"What?" He responded intelligently.  
"Meeting! Prof's office!" She told him again, rolling her eyes. "Honestly."  
"Meeting?" He repeated, still trying to get his brain to catch up. "About what?"  
"We're getting a field trip! That's what Jubes says anyway She said she overheard Mr Summers and Dr Gray talking about it. Just for us older kids – but we get to go away for the weekend!" Kitty informed him excitedly, still dragging him along. After a moment digesting this, he gave out a small whoop.  
"Yes! Finally we get a holiday from this place! Where are we going?"   
"We don't know yet. We've been waiting for you to arrive, so Professor Xavier can tell us." She said, shooting him a meaningful look. He shrugged, and shook her hand off.   
"Sorry. Had to post a letter."  
"You and your letters! Are you ever going to tell us who you're writing to?"  
"Yeah. Eventally." He said with a smirk. As they approached the Professor's office, he saw Jubes sitting on the ground nearby. At their approach, she jumped up.  
"Finally! Geeze Johnny, where ya been? We've been looking all over for you! Where's Bobby? The others are waiting inside. C'mon! I want to know where we're going!" She spurted out, hardly pausing for breath. Not giving them a chance to respond, she pushed open the door, and the three of them walked into the wood-encased office. Inside were several other students standing or sitting. Looking around St John spotted all the seniors in the school, minus Bobby.  
"Ahh. I see you found him girls. I'll contact Bobby." Xavier said kindly, smiling at the three of them. St John ducked his head sheepishly, and more then one person around the room rolled their eyes. "Bobby should be here in a moment. St John, I trust there won't be any other unscheduled trips into town this week?"   
"uh.. no sir course not." He got out. Jubes snickered, and St John casually elbowed her. A few seconds later, Bobby entered the study and all other conversations died as Xavier coughed for attention.  
"Most of you have already found out what this meeting is about," He began, and Jubes grinned. "and I think that you are all pleased with the idea. We plan to give you the weekend off, and allow you a small break from the school. This will, of course, be supervised – " There was a slight groan, but he continued over the top. "by one of the teachers. We've made arrangements for you at Cherry Tree Point – beside the beach. The weather is getting warmer now days, and we felt it might be someplace you'd like to spend the weekend at." There was some whooping and excited chatter for a moment, and Xavier beamed at the success of his idea. After a few moments, he continued, bringing the students to a hush. "We will make the last arrangements soon, and then you'll be given the final details later on in the week." With that, Xavier seemed to be finished, and the room once again descended into a buzz of noise.   
"Oh yeah, oh yeah! Beach, here we come!" An excited Jubilee crowed while doing an-on the spot dance. St John grinned and Bobby rolled his eyes. "Kitty, we have GOT to go shopping for new swimsuits!" She exclaimed, grabbing hold of the other girl's arm and wringing it up and down. Kitty smiled and tried to pry her off gently, but ended up being dragged towards the door. Most of the other students were leaving as well. "C'mon Kitty we gotta go decide what we're going to taakkkeee!" Jubes enthused, still tightly gripping Kitty's arm and dragging her steadily out into the hallway. With more rueful grins and shakings of heads, people began to file out, including Bobby, Kurt and Evan. St John, however, remained where he was standing, looking thoughtful.  
"You comin' St John?" Evan asked, as the three paused by the door.  
"Nah, I gotta ask the Prof. something. I'll catch up with ya later." He replied. With a nod, the other boys left. St John waited until the last student had left before stepping forward to the Professor's desk.   
"Can I help you St John?" The older man asked. St John looked over at where Dr Gray and Storm were still standing.  
"Uh, yeah. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a sec." He said. Getting the hint, the two women made for the door.  
"We'll come back later Professor. Just call me when you're done." Dr Gray said, closing the door behind her. Professor Xavier moved his chair so that it was directly behind his desk and then looked up at St John, who was still standing somewhat awkwardly before him.  
"So, what would you like to talk to me about? I presume it has something to do with the trip?"   
"Yeah well, I dunno if you know this, but I've been writing to Rogue." St John started, sitting down in one of the nearby seats. Professor Xavier raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not comment. "And I know she doesn't want anyone to know where she is, but she always says that she misses everyone from the school, and well, I was kinda wonderin' if it might be nice for me to go and visit her." He got out, somewhat hesitantly.   
"Ahh. And you think that this weekend might be the time to do so?" The professor asked. St John nodded.  
"That was the idea. I know her address and stuff, and I'm sure she could put me up for a night in her flat. I haven't really thought it out properly, but I don't mind missing the beach-trip, and I'd like to see her again, you know? "   
"Hmm. I don't see why you can't. It's nice to know that she's been keeping some contact with us, although I'm slightly surprised that it wasn't Kitty or Jubilee that she wrote too." St John smirked.  
"There is a reason for it, but it doesn't really matter now. So does that mean you're going to let me go?"  
"If you can work out more specific details, it should be fine. I will, however, require you to give me her address in case anything should go wrong." Professor Xavier said seriously. After a moment's thought, St John nodded.  
"Yeah, OK. I'll see what I can get together, and come talk to you later. Thanks Professor." He said, getting up.  
"Oh, and St John?" The Professor called as he was leaving. St John turned around, a questioning look on his face. "If you need to go into town again to post a letter, tell me first, hmm?" The older man asked, raising an eyebrow. Looking slightly sheepish, St John nodded.  
"Yes sir!" He chirruped, before closing the door behind him.   
Back inside the room, Professor Xavier smiled fondly, before turning back to sheets laid out before him and mentally calling Jean Gray.


End file.
